This invention relates to sod harvesters. More particularly, it relates to sod harvesters which cut strips of sod and form the cut strips into rolls.
Automatic sod harvesters which cut a strip of sod from a field of sod, and then form the cut strip into discrete rolls of sod, have been well-known since the late 1960""s. More recently, there has been a trend to providing mechanisms which can receive and store a number of sod rolls, and which can then transfer the stored rolls onto a pallet. An example of such a mechanism is shown in U.S. pat. No. 4,966,239 to Hutchison.
In sod harvesters which contain a storage area for a number of sod rolls, for transfer of the stored rolls to a pallet, it is important to reject defective sod rolls and pieces of scrap sod before they reach the storage area. If a defective sod roll or piece reaches the storage area, it typically abuts tightly against or may be sandwiched between other sod rolls, making the defective roll very difficult to remove at this stage. If the defective roll is transferred from the storage area to a pallet, it becomes even more difficult to remove, since it will be surrounded by other sod rolls which are not defective.
If the defective sod roll is removed before it reaches the sod roll storage area, then a problem arises with how to dispose of the defective roll. It is not practical to store the defective rolls on the harvester, since space there is limited. If a defective roll is disposed of on the ground, it may interfere with subsequent passes of the sod harvester.
It is therefore an object of the invention, in one of its aspects, to provide a sod harvester adapted for travel along a path of travel in a sod field, said harvester having;
(a) a cutting head for producing cut sod from said field and thereby producing a cut area in said field, and for leaving in said field an uncut area from which sod has not yet been cut;
(b) a conveyor assembly behind said cutting head for conveying cut sod from said cutting head;
(c) a roll-up mechanism associated with said conveyor assembly for forming said cut sod into a plurality of sod rolls;
(d) a sod roll storage receiver adjacent said conveyor assembly for receiving a plurality of said sod rolls;
(e) a diverter mechanism between said conveyor assembly and said storage receiver and moveable between a first position in which said diverter mechanism allows sod to travel from said conveyor assembly to said storage receiver, and a second position in which said diverter diverts sod to be rejected away from said storage receiver; and
(f) a deflector for deflecting said sod to be rejected away from said uncut area and onto said cut area in a position such that sod which has been rejected will not interfere with the next pass of said harvester.
In another aspect, the invention provides a method of harvesting sod in a sod field with a harvester having a cutting head and heels, said method comprising:
(a) cutting a strip of said sod and forming said strip into a roll, leaving a cut portion in said field;
(b) conveying said roll onto a storage receiver;
(c) causing a defective piece of sod to fall through a gap before it reaches said storage receiver; and
(d) deflecting said defective piece of sod onto the cut portion of said field in a position in which said defective piece of sod will not interfere with said cutting head or wheels on the next pass of said harvester.
Further objects and advantages of the invention will appear from the following description, taken together with the accompanying drawings, in which:
FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a typical prior art sod harvester;
FIGS. 2(a) to 2(d) are views of a defective sod roll rejector and deflector of the invention;
FIG. 3 is a top plan view of a sod harvester according to the invention and located in a sod field being cut, showing the positioning of a rejected sod roll;
FIGS. 4(a) to 4(d) are views of another embodiment of a defective sod roll rejector and deflector according to the invention;
FIGS. 5(a) to 5(d) are views of another embodiment of a defective sod roll rejector and deflector according to the invention;
FIGS. 6(a) to 6(d) are views of another embodiment of a defective sod roll rejector and deflector according to the invention; and
FIGS. 7(a) to 7(d) are views of another embodiment of a defective sod roll rejector and deflector according to the invention.